heriot

See also: Herriot

English

Etymology

From Old English hereġeatwa (“military equipment, army gear”).

Per Etymonline: "An Anglo-Saxon service of weapons, loaned by the lord to his retainer and repayable to him upon the retainer's death; sense transferred by 13c. to a feudal due upon the death of a tenant, payable to his lord in beasts."

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛɹɪət/

Noun

heriot (plural heriots)

1. (historical) The return of military equipment.
2. (historical) A payment made to a lord on the death of a tenant.

   Synonym: herezeld

3. (dated) A tribute.

Verb

heriot (third-person singular simple present heriots, present participle herioting, simple past and past participle herioted)

1. (rare, historical, transitive) To pay the heriot on (a piece of real estate) after the death of the previous tenant (such as one's parent, uncle, aunt, or grandparent).
   • 1904, Halifax Wills: Being Abstracts and Translations of the Wills Registered at York from the Parish of Halifax‎^[1], volume 2, Halifax, West Yorkshire:

     Page 174, line 25. Perhaps the Richard Longebothome here mentioned was the same man as the Richard who herioted the property in 1509. Apr. 23, I Hen. VIII (1509). Ric. Longebothome paid xxiijˢ iiijᵈ [23s 4d] fine for license of herioting one messuage called Longebothome, one cottage, and 40 acres of land and meadow in Soureby after the death of Ric. Longebothome and Agnes, his wife, grandfather […]

   • 1909, “Appendix II: Rishworth of Coley”, in William Brown, editor, Record Series‎^[2], volume 39: For the Year 1907: Yorkshire Deeds, Yorkshire Archaeological Society, page 226:

     1417. Henry Rishworth formerly held two oxgangs in Hipperholme, Osbarn rode, lands in Coley, etc. His nephew Henry, son of Nicholas de Rishworth, next heir, paid 10s heriot.
     1418. John, son and heir of Henry de Rishworth, herioted a cottage and a royd in the Hey in Hipperholme.

   • 1914, Record Series‎^[3], volumes 1-3, Halifax, West Yorkshire: Halifax Antiquarian Society, page 75:

     […] children of his daughter, Agnes Clay, were each to have a cow as their legacies. The will was proved 13th December, 1471. (See Halifax Wills, p. 15.) On the death of his father, William, the wealthy "draper," his son John herioted a close called The Holme, with a fulling mill […]

Derived terms

• heriotable

Anagrams

• therio-